Using the example of a gypsy population settled in a Montpellier neighborhood, we describe the adaptive strategies developed by these families and the systems of values in use within the school framework. Gypsies partially adhere to or reject the rules of this institution, thus revealing differences in education at school and in the family and tensions caused by their attachment to tradition and their will of emancipation both based on an ideology of honor. For some families, school success is not only useful, but a necessary condition of social promotion.